Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – The Medina Marching Band performs down Main Street in today’s Memorial Day parade. It was bright with sunshine for the parade after a rainy week.

The parade route was lined with people, especially on Main Street and East Center Street. Following the parade there was a service at the State Street Park.

These veterans in the honor guard carry the colors along the parade route which started at the Pickle Factory on Park Avenue, then onto Main Street and East Center Street to State Street Park.

Local veterans sent a powerful message with these flag-draped coffin and a headstone for “American Soldier.”

Shelby firefighters Zach Petry, left with American flag, and Rob Schaal, with the Shelby fire company flag, wore turnout gear and marched in the parade.

The Medina Marching Band brought a big presence and sound for the parade.

Kevin Bogan of the Knights of Columbus passed out candy along the parade route.

Tyler Meehan, 8, of Middleport assists his grandfather Bob Meehan in passing out flags. The Sons of the American Legion handed out more than 2,000 of the flags to people watching the parade.

These people along East Center Street were happy to receive flags given out by Tyler Meehan.

There were several community groups in the parade including Early Head Start.

Lee-Whedon Memorial Library promoted its upcoming summer reading program.

Alishia Foss, left, and Diana Baker carry the banner to highlight the Orleans County National Night Out on Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The event will be outside at Wise Middle Intermediate School in Medina with free food and other activities with first responders and community organizations.

At the beginning of a service at State Street Park, the flags were raised. Veterans placed a wreath on the cannon from World War I.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Veterans carry the colors and march in a parade this morning on Main Street in Albion. After the parade, veterans and the community joined for a Memorial Day service in front of the middle school.

Two brothers from Albion, Benjamin Langford (left) and Zane, hold American flags while a procession of fire trucks go by.

Al Hand plays Taps during the start of the Memorial Day parade while the honor guard holds the flags.

Three generations of the Pawlak family participated in the parade with the Knights of Columbus, sending a message, “Freedom is not free.” Joe Pawlak, front left, holds that sign while his son, Julian, age 9, holds the sign to “Remember those who gave their lives.” Joe’s other sons, Michael and Noah, also were in the parade, along with their grandfather, Jerome Pawlak.

Pino Aldaco, left, and Casimer Pruski, both long-time members of the Knights of Columbus, carried American flags during the parade.

Mallory Ashbery, a drum major for the Albion marching band, helps to lead the group during today’s parade. Mallory Kozody, the other drum major, is in back.

Nick Baxter plays the baritone saxophone for the band as its makes its way down Main Street.

Stryker Braley carries the American flag with other Scouts in Troop 164 in Albion.

These veterans, including Joe Gehl in back holding the flag, promoted the Veterans Medical Transportation Service run by the Joint Veterans Council.

Nicholas Herzog, left, and Angel Aldaco carry a banner for the Knights of Columbus.

DeFillipps served in role for Holley and Murray for 46 years

File photo by Tom Rivers: Raymond Santoro is shown in October 2023 with a copy of his book, “Haunted Holley – Tales of Ghosts, Miracles and Unexplained Mysteries.”

HOLLEY – Marsha DeFilipps has retired after 46 years as Holley’s official historian. DeFilipps also served in the role for the Town of Murray.

DeFilipps has been very active in the Holley-Murray Historical Society. She was influential in establishing the Murray-Holley Historical Society Museum in the old train depot and has led multiple talks and workshops and helped many residents trace their own familial roots.

The depot was constructed in 1907. It was moved in 1988 to Geddes Street Extension and was turned into a museum about local history.

One of the signature accomplishments during her term as historian was her creation of an Index of personal names in Landmarks of Orleans County. To do this, DeFilipps spent many months combing through and extracting every name mentioned in Isaac Signor’s 1894 publication, developing a permanent record of history.

The Holley Village Board accepted DeFilipps’ resignation on May 13 and appointed Raymond Santoro to the role.

“What can I possibly say to acknowledge the many contributions Marsha has made to this village over the course of 46 years of service?” Holley Mayor Mark Bower posted on the village website. “At every turn, with any and every request, or question, she was there to provide any of us the information we were seeking. To say Marsha was a ‘wealth of knowledge’ is simply an understatement.”

Bower during his five years as a village officials said he often turned to DeFilipps for historical photos or information, or for help with some of the village events. .such as research of Myron Holley family when his descendants were welcomed to Holley in 2023.

“Marsha was the driving force in establishing our village’s historical society, now the joint Murray-Holley Historical Society,” Bower said. “On behalf of the deputy mayor and trustees, I thank Marsha DeFilipps for her distinguished service. I thank her for how she advocated for our village and how, as historian, she represented Holley in the best of ways.”

Santoro, the new historian, has been active in the Historical Society since it was founded in 1985. In 2023 he wrote a book, “Haunted Holley – Tales of Ghosts, Miracles and Unexplained Mysteries.” The 144-page book shares some of the supernatural experiences Santoro has experienced or heard about in the Holley area.

File photo by Tom Rivers:  The Kendall community observed Memorial Day on May 30, 2018 at Greenwood Cemetery. The Orleans County Historical Association included Greenwood Cemetery in this summer’s cemetery tours. The cemetery is on Route 18, across from the Dollar General store.

The Orleans County Historical Association has announced the schedule of cemetery tours this summer.

The tours are conducted every Sunday at 6 p.m. during the month of August. The cemeteries on this year’s tours are:

• August 3 – Mount Albion Cemetery (Route 31, Albion) with Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County Historian and Sue Starkweather Miller, Village of Albion Historian.
• August 10 – Robinson Cemetery (Rt. 237 & Glidden Rd, Clarendon) with Melissa Ierlan, Clarendon Historian.
• August 17 – Millville Cemetery (East Shelby Road, Medina) with Alice Zacher and Mary Zelazny.
• August 24 – Greenwood Cemetery (Rt. 237 & Rt. 18, Kendall) with Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian.
• August 31 – St. Joseph’s Cemetery (E. Avenue, Albion) with Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian and Sue Starkweather Miller, Village of Albion Historian.

Go to orleanshistory.org for information on the tours as well as historical talks.

Photos and information courtesy of Medina Band Boosters

The Medina Mustang Band left for Chicago on May 22nd for its annual spring trip and competition.  The top photo shows the band exploring Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. This sculpture, by Anish Kapoor, is of highly polished stainless steel reflecting Chicago’s skyline

Comprising of about 90 students, the Coach Bus trip included a combination of educational sightseeing and music competition at the Music in the Park 2025 Festival.

The Medina Marching Band took first place with a Superior rating in the Street Band competition.

The Band returned home late Sunday night and will perform in today’s Medina Memorial Day Parade.

The marching band, as well as the concert and jazz band, will complete their performance season on June 6 and 7 at the Sherburne (NY) Music Festival.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: (Left) Wayne Dorpfeld of Albion has invented a unique portable easel for artists, which he calls Easely. Here, he holds the folded-up device, which weighs less than 10 pounds. (Center) Dorpfeld attaches the drawing board to his portable artists’ seat/easel, which takes barely a minute to set up. (Right) Dorpfeld holds a folded-up Easely (art horse) as he looks over the one he just assembled.

ALBION – A graphic designer/artist by trade, Wayne Dorpfeld of Albion has become an inventor.

While attending a plein air art show in Colorado, it became evident to Dorpfeld that artists were struggling with their art benches, also called donkey easels or art horses.

“Artists were complaining their art horses were too heavy,” Dorpfeld said. “The most popular ones weighed 30 pounds or more. They were all limited in functionality and their assembly required more time and effort than desirable.”

Dorpfeld’s formal education was a graphic designer and illustrator. He also taught commercial art at Attica Prison, and when he retired he did some painting.

After a fall two years ago, in which he injured his back, the difficulty in managing art benches became evident.

“I didn’t like any of the art horses I found, so I decided to design and make my own,” Dorpfeld said. “I bought a 3D printer and a CNC router, and after many hours of working in my shop, tweaking the prototype and consulting with friends, family and peers, I believe I’ve developed the ultimate donkey easel.”

He calls his invention “Easely” and claims “it is a real thoroughbred.”

There are eight or 10 models manufactured currently, only two of which are foldable. Dorpfeld said none can do what his does. No longer than a yardstick when folded up for carrying, his design weighs less than 10 pounds.

Dorpfeld said Easely can be set up in barely a minute. It is adjustable to suit any media at any angle or height and accommodates drawing boards up to 22” x 30”.  Two snap-on trays hold collapsible plastic cups for water (for watercolor artists), brushes and paints.

 Dorpfeld’s son Jacob is owner of Jacob C. Dorpfeld Custom Furniture and Cabinetry, and has the capability to build Easelys if the demand is there.

Anyone interested in more information or wishing to order one may find Dorpfeld’s contact information by logging on to www.easelyusa.com and click on “contact.”

Photo by Tom Rivers: Jim Freas reads the names of veterans from Medina who have passed away since the last Memorial Day. It was part of a service at State Street Park in Medina on Memorial Day on May 29, 2023.

There will be parades and services for Memorial Day in Orleans County communities on Monday, May 26.

ALBION – The parade starts at 10 a.m. at Main Street near the Park Street intersection. From there the processional goes to East Avenue, and then to the middle school.

A service will be held in front of the middle school at approximately 11 a.m.

HOLLEY – A ceremony will start at 9 a.m. at the American Legion Post on Wright Street and will include patriotic music played by the Holley-Kendall Marching Band. From there veterans will march to Hillside Cemetery. Taps will be played and a wreath will be set at the grave of Jewell Buckman. After there will be a prayer service at the Catholic cemetery.

KENDALL – A ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 30, at the Kendall Community Park where there is a war memorial and gazebo. It is located on Kendall Road, across from the Kendall Elementary School. Kendall observes the holiday on May 30, which was the original day of Memorial Day. It was changed to the be the last Monday of May in 1968 to have a three-day weekend for federal employees.

LYNDONVILLE – A parade will start at 9 a.m. from the parking lot at the former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Lake Avenue and participants will march to the library for the ceremony which follows. (Participants in the parade should be at the start by 8:45 a.m.)

MEDINA – The parade will start at 11 a.m. at the Olde Pickle Factory building on Park Avenue and proceed to the State Street Park where a ceremony will be held at about noon.

Charles W. Wogatzke was first casualty from Kendall; Edward H. Barron of Holley was wounded and had arm amputated

Marines at the Battle of Belleau Wood, France, 1918, in this artwork created by Georges Scott. This illustration “American Marines in Belleau Wood (1918)” was originally published in the French Magazine “Illustrations.”

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 5, No. 19

On Memorial Day, we pause to mourn those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. So many young men, their stories forgotten.

Here are the World War I stories of two young Orleans County men: Edward H. Barron of Holley and Charles Wogatzke of Kendall.

Their letters provide a glimpse into their characters as they adjust to the cruel reality of war with humor and courage.

HOLLEY MAN RETURNS HOME

Edward H. Barron Loses Arm in France and Will Be Discharged

HOLLEY, July 26 – Mrs. Eugene Weirs of this place is in receipt of two letters regarding her son Edward H. Barron, who was reported seriously injured in the casualty list in the early part of June

One of the letters is from the Hospital and Home Service, Paris, in which it is stated that his arm was so badly injured, it had to be amputated. The other letter is written for Private Barron by the mother of one of the nurses in the hospital in Paris:

Dear Mother: Just a few lines to let you know that I am improving nicely and hope to be out of bed soon. I took a walk this morning in a rolling chair. My legs are all right, but about my wounds, I am sorry to tell you that they were obliged to take off my right arm which means discharge from service. So, you see that I shall be home soon. Everything has a good side. If I had had an ordinary wound, I should have had to remain whereas without my arm I shall only be good to come back to you.

I tried to write to you with my left hand but am afraid that you would not have been able to read it. The lady who is writing this letter is the mother of one of my nurses; both Parisian ladies who lived in New York a long time.

Edward H. Barron enlisted on May 4, 1917. He served in the Marine Corps and was wounded in France at the Battle of Belleau Wood in June, 1918. He was discharged on May 8, 1919.

Later employed as a clerk at the Veterans Hospital in Buffalo, he was a life member of the Disabled American Veterans, Dr. Martin F. Nolan Chapter 50 of North Tonawanda. He died in 1954 at the age of 55.

KENDALL BOY WRITES OF EXPERIENCES IN THE TRENCHES

Excerpts from a letter written by Charles Wogatzke of Kendall:

Dear Friends:

Saturday, July 20, 1918

Pvt. Charles W. Wogatzke of Kendall

…. We are back from the trenches for ten days rest and to get cleaned up again. We needed it very bad for the cooties were so thick. This seems to be a great country for rats and mice: the trenches are full of them……It is mostly barbed wire entanglements through here and it looks pretty rough. The ground is full of shell holes.

…. Well, how did you spend the Fourth out there? We spent ours in the trenches. Fritz sent over all kinds of fireworks for us, some lively night, believe me, but we played fair with him and sent over just as many to him. We have two friends, that is our rifle and gas mask, which we have to carry with us all the time. I remember one night; we had just laid down and fell to sleep when the guard hollers “Gas” and you had ought to see us get those masks on! For it doesn’t take but a very little to put a man out of business.

I am a rifleman and bayonet fighter; that’s my business now. How would you like that job?

My watch runs fine and I am very glad that you got that kind instead of a wrist watch. The boys have most all got wrist watches and most of them have broken them, and another thing, they make a very good target for a sniper for you can see them for a good ways at night.

Well, I guess I have told you all the news, and as it is getting late will have to stop writing at this time…..

From your Friend,

Charles Wogatzke   

This scrapbook was donated to the Orleans County Department of History.

Charles Wogatzke was the Town of Kendall’s first casualty of World War I. Born in Dec. 1890, he was the son of Albert H. and Martha A. Wogatzke who had immigrated from Germany in 1887.

According to enlistment records, Charles was of medium build with brown hair and blue eyes. He was employed as a laborer with the New York Central Railroad. Drafted in Albion on February 25, 1918, he was assigned to the 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division and was sent overseas on April 16, 1918. He was killed in action on August 12, 1918, and is buried in the Oisne-Aisne American Cemetery in Picardie, France.

These letters were published in the Holley Standard newspaper and collected in a scrapbook, later donated to the Orleans County Dept. of History collection.

Photo by Tom Rivers

GAINES – A towing company takes a mail truck away that was knocked off its side in an accident on Ridge Road after 5 p.m. today.

No one was seriously injured or needed to be transported by ambulance, said Lt. Adam Hazel of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver of the mail truck was attempting to turn around on Ridge Road, just east of Sawyer/Crandall Road, when it was hit by another oncoming vehicle. Neither vehicle had passengers.

The accident closed a section of Ridge Road for about an hour.

Albion firefighters and Mercy Ambulance both responded to the scene. Midnight Oil Operations towed the mail truck.

6 candidates seek 3 spots on Town Board

Photos by Tom Rivers: Vassilios Bitsas speaks during Thursday’s candidate forum at the Shelby fire hall. About 100 people attended the forum that stretched more than 2 ½ hours.

SHELBY – The town has perhaps the most hotly contested election this year with six candidates seeking three positions on the Town Board.

Five of those candidates were at a candidate forum on Thursday at the Shelby Fire Hall with about 100 people attending the 2 ½-hour forum moderated by County Legislator John Fitzak.

The Town of Shelby Republican Committee organized the forum. The committee has endorsed incumbent Scott Wengewicz for another two-year as town supervisor, and also has endorsed Mike Moriarty and Vassilios Bitsas for town councilman.

Jim Heminway has forced a primary against Wengewicz for town supervisor. Larry Waters Sr. and incumbent Ed Zelazny also forced a primary for the councilmen.

There will be nine days of early voting from June 14 to June 22 at the county Board of Elections in Albion, and then voting on the June 24 primary at the Shelby Town Hall.

Zelazny, a farmer, did not attend the forum. He and councilwoman Linda Limina often vote against the majority on the board, especially with the budget and financial issues.

“Not participating in a ‘debate’ run by the same crew that rigged it two years ago,” Zelazny posted on Facebook. “No rules, no agenda, no fairness and a fixed deck of questions to serve their agenda. I’m not playing along. If you have questions about town business or anything else, you know how to find me.”

Zelazny said he isn’t a “yes man.” He said he has proven to be a fiscally conservative town official.

“Some people say I don’t say much,” he posted on Facebook. “That’s fine. I’d rather listen, show up, and vote right than talk in circles.”

County Legislator John Fitzak served as moderator of the forum, which took many questions from the crowd.

The crowd was urged to submit hand-written questions. They were collected by supporters of candidates from both sides. Fitzak urged the speakers to keep it civil.

Heminway and Waters have been at many board meetings the past two years or so, and have been a frequent critic of what they said is financial mismanagement by Wengewicz.

They both referred to a state comptroller report’s that was critical of the town supervisor’s oversight of town finances.

They both said Wengewicz and the town government make it too difficult to obtain public information, often requiring people to fill out Freedom of Information Act requests and then face long waits for the information.

Scott Wengewicz said the town has made progress on several fronts during his tenure as town supervisor.

Wengewicz started as town supervisor on Dec. 13, 2022, taking the position after Jeff Smith stepped down. Wengewicz was appointed by the board to fill the vacancy.

He is retired from a 30-year career as a Border Patrol agent. He has opened two businesses in Medina/Shelby: Mystic Dragon’s Lair and Patriot Guns.

He sees many successes from the town government, while working through the difficult challenges with the accounting software.

Shelby was able to keep a wind turbine project from advancing and opposed a sewer pipeline along Route 63 that would have dumped waste water into the Oak Orchard Creek.

The town has upgraded the town hall, the parking lot and replaced two dump trucks, while tending to other town business, Wengewicz said.

He said he has pushed to keep expenses down. He said budget he prepared and submitted as the tentative budget would have kept the town tax rate flat at $3.40 per $1,000 of assessed property in 2025, but the rate went up after the other board members weighed in.

Wengewicz noted the town was able to convince New Leaf Energy not to pursue two turbines that would peak at 633 feet. New Leaf sought two turbines on Route 63 on land owned by the Smith family.

The project was proposed by Borrego Solar System Inc. Borrego spun off the development side of its business to ECP, which named the new company, New Leaf Energy.

“There’s still a lot to do,” Wengewicz said about moving the town forward.

He said residents are welcome to stop by the town hall and he will answer their questions.

“I’ll show you whatever you want to see,” he said. “I have nothing to hide. You can see everything.”

Jim Heminway said his management experience would benefit the Town Board if he became town supervisor.

Heminway pushed back on some of Wengewicz’s comments. Heminway said the turbine project went away because of resident opposition, not because of the Town Board. Many residents signed a petition opposing the turbines.

Heminway said Shelby’s relatively low tax rate is due to reassessments that significantly increased the town’s tax base, and also led to higher tax bills for residents.

Wengewicz also worked with Royalton town officials to allow Shelby to tap into their water system, bringing a lower-cost option to part of Shelby. Wengewicz said the water from Royalton should be about half the cost as from Medina.

Heminway, however, said Wengewicz did that while alienating the Village of Medina, and Shelby so far doesn’t fully account for a blended rate with water mixed together from the two systems. Wengewicz said the blended rate will soon be known. The town is waiting on the first quarterly water bills to go through to provide data for determining a mixed rate.

Heminway is retired as chief operations officer for Monroe Electronics in Lyndonville. He worked there from 1998 to 2019. He also worked for American Sigma and Baxter Healthcare.

“I’ve had a lot of experience working in very diverse groups, getting different people together,” he said. “I spent a career managing people and products.”

Heminway is a current village resident who used to live on Dunlap Road, outside the village. He said the current board takes an “adversarial approach” with the village that could prove detrimental to the overall community.

He said the village faces increasing dire financial straits, with its taxes going up and facing rising costs to provide police, ambulance, fire protection and other services.

He noted that while Shelby has long felt Medina was overcharging on water, Shelby officials didn’t find resolution with the village.

“We have to reestablish that relationship with those folks,” he said. “We’re all in this together. The way things are going with taxes, we’re going to sink together.”

Shelby has the Medina Business Park which is an attractive option for businesses. But Heminway said they need to be businesses that “don’t damage our natural resources.”

The community also needs to work to solve a housing crisis where there are too few options locally. Businesses that come to Shelby will need places for employees to live.

He said Shelby should strive to be fair with the village and not be another force that works against the village.

The candidates were asked how to help the village so it doesn’t dissolve as a village government.

Vassilios Bitsas said communication and transparency should be a focus from the Town Board.

All five at the forum said they value the village services, especially the police and fire department. Waters was the lone candidate to say more of the local sales tax needs to be shared by the county government. The County legislature has kept the towns and villages collectively at about $1.3 million since 2001. The county keeps about 95 percent of the local sales tax.

Heminway said the leaders of the Shelby, Ridgeway and Medina governments, as well as the county legislators from the community, need to get together regularly to go over the local issues and see how they can better work together.

“There needs to be more communication with our neighbors,” Heminway said. “We’re not that big.”

Vassilios Bitsas, age 25, works in the day-to-day operations with the family’s restaurant – Country Club Family Restaurant in medina – and three Cusimano’s Pizzeria locations in Medina, Lockport and Brockport. The family employs 250 people, and Bitsas said clear communication and valuing employees are keys to the businesses’ success.

Bitsas said he wants to be more involved in the community, and bring a younger adult’s perspective to the board, while seeking the input from residents and other board members.

“I just want to serve you guys and do what is best,” he said.

Bitsas said more affordable housing, and more housing options should be a priority so more people can choose to stay in the community. He said many of his peers are of the age when they are looking to buy a hose, and too often they have to pick outside or the Medina/Shelby area because there are few options.

“My goal is economic growth, to bring more businesses in to ease tax burdens on others,” he said. “We need more housing. There is no where to raise your family right now.”

Mike Moriarty said infrastructure needs to be improved to bring in more companies.

Mike Moriarty, 41, is the general manager at Pride Pak, a fruit and vegetable processing business on Maple Ridge Road. He also is an electrician.

Moriarty said he isn’t a political person. “I’m Pro-Shelby,” he said. “I’d like to see Shelby thrive, and that’s it. End of story.”

Moriarty noted Pride Pak is a $37 million company with 70 employees locally. It opened in Medina in 2016.

“We’ve stayed strong and we’re expanding,” he said.

He said the Orleans Economic Development Agency was critical in bringing Pride Pak to the community. He said Shelby should work closer with the Orleans EDA to bring in companies that are a good fit for the community.

Moriarty said he watches many of the Town Board meetings online through YouTube and is astonished by the bickering.

“It’s the same thing over and over,” he said. “There is no moving forward running meetings like that.”

Shelby needs to work with the county and village to make sure the infrastructure is adequate to serve businesses and residents.

“We have fallen way behind on infrastructure,” he said. “We need to get our infrastructure straightened out so businesses will come here. We’d love to see more businesses by Pride Pak, and see Pride Pak expand.”

Larry Waters said the Town Board needs to do better managing town finances.

Larry Waters works as the corporate inventory manager for Champlain Valley Equipment, overseeing a $130 million budget. Waters has attended many meetings in the past couple years. He said the board’s “fiscal irresponsibility” is the biggest motivator for him running for councilman.

“I’m very well prepared to take on this task and to help right the ship,” he said. “I want to put myself in a position where I can help to turn this thing around.”

Waters said many in the community are reeling from rising tax bill, from dramatic increases in their assessments to overspending at the government level.

The current board often leaves him frustrated. The board doesn’t provide answers to his questions during meetings, and doesn’t get back to him after the sessions.

“They are not transparent at all,” he said. “You have to fight tooth and nail. You have to submit FOIL requests for things that should be handed to you.”

Shelby also needs to figure out a way to bring public water to areas without a waterline. Wengewicz noted the costs are too expensive to serve some areas with too few houses to cover the costs of a water district. While some residents without public water want a waterline, others are happy with the well water and don’t want the added expense of public water, Wengewicz said.

He acknowledged “it’s a balancing act” with bringing in more businesses and still maintaining the rural flavor of Shelby, and also not jeopardizing the wildlife refuge and other natural resources.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: From left, Samantha Rae Hughes and Matt Martin of Lockport pose with Craig Lacy in front of the former NAPA building at 345 Main St., Medina. Martin and Hughes have recently purchased the historic building which dates back to 1834. The new owners plan to capitalize on the building’s proximity to the canal.

MEDINA – Believed to be the oldest and one of the most historic buildings in Medina, the former home of Medina Parts/ NAPA is about to make new history under new owners.

Owned since 1925 by the Lacy family, Craig Lacy has sold the building at 345 Main St. to Matt Martin and Samantha Rae Hughes, life partners and real estate investors from Lockport.

Except for Medina’s Canal Village Farmers’ Market using the space free of charge during winter months for the last three years, the building has been unused since NAPA unexpectedly sold the business name out from under Lacy in 2022, resulting in his closing the doors in May that year.

Martin and Hughes came to Medina last summer due to an interest in the Medina Cold Storage. Hughes had lived with her parents in Medina for several years as a child, so she has special feelings for the village, she said.

Photos courtesy of Samantha Rae Hughes: Samantha Hughes, who recently purchased the former Medina Parts building with her partner Matt Martin, stands in the planned events space, which overlooks the canal.

While in Medina last year, they walked down Main Street, ending up in the Canal Basin.

“I’m in love with buildings that have history,” Hughes said. “I saw this building and I kept walking back and looking at it again.”

“The first time we walked this far, Craig was working in the basement and I asked if he was the owner,” Martin said.

“He took us on a tour and we fell in love with it – the look of it, the history, the potential it has,” Hughes said.

“I saw them overlooking the canal and I thought they were boaters,” Lacy said. “Two weeks later, Matt called and said, ‘We’d like to make you an offer on your building.’”

“Working with Craig has been awesome,” Martin said. “We’ve purchased a number of buildings in recent years, but Craig has been the most wonderful to work with.”

Lacy said he hadn’t been thinking seriously of selling the building, but it was nice to meet someone who had a vision for it.

Martin and Hughes shared their tentative plans for the building.

“We have an agreement with the Canal Corporation for the next 16 months to rent the building out as an art gallery for ‘Art Along the Canal,’ beginning July 1,” Hughes said. “Artists from all over will be invited to come and showcase their works. It will be nice to bring people back into the building.”

(Left) This is the view from one of the windows in the event space being developed in the former Medina Parts building on Medina’s Main Street. (Right) A view of the canal basin will greet people on the rooftop lounge the new owners are planning for the former Medina Parts building at 345 Main St.

Hughes did say the Canal Village Farmer’s Market will be allowed to finish their winter season in the building, and use the space until the end of this month, when they will move back to West Center and West Avenue.

The back space of the building will become an event space, suitable for celebrations and parties, Hughes said. Creation of a rooftop lounge overlooking the canal is in the plans, to be rented for showers or for the public just to come and enjoying one’s lunch. Preliminary plans include a brewery after the art show ends and an Airbnb on the second floor.

This article by former county historian Bill Lattin in Sept. 28, 1984 in The Journal-Register shows the building in three different eras and describes one of two devastating fires which occurred during its existence.

“We will try to figure something out for the basement (which houses a historic jail) so people can go down there and take pictures,” Hughes said.

Immediate work will include making the restrooms handicap accessible and other cosmetic (temporary) changes to spruce up the area for the art show. Renovations to the back room will start as soon as possible, with the intention of keeping that space for use by the community.

“Lockport used to have such a nice Main Street, until Urban Renewal came along,” Hughes said. “Coming here and seeing Medina’s Main Street is kind of sweet.”

For Lacy, the situation is bittersweet.

“We came within a month of celebrating our 100th year in business here, and that got swiped right out from under us,” he said. “But I feel very good about the building’s sale. I didn’t have a vision for this place and I’m real happy with what these people have planned.”

The Lacy family has claimed ownership of the sandstone building since Craig’s grandfather M. Cady Lacy and his partner Charles Haak started the Medina Cylinder Regrinding Co. in 1921.

“They had both lost their jobs when the Central Foundry closed in 1921,” Lacy said.

Botsford Fairman originally built the structure in 1834, which housed a grocery, bank and insurance office on the first floor; the Masonic fraternity on the second floor; and the Odd Fellows on the third floor. On April 15, 1861, the building was destroyed by fire.

Lacy noted that because it was built of Medina sandstone, which does not burn, only the interior was gutted, and Fairman rebuilt the arcade using the original foundation. In 1869 the property was sold to Jonathan A. Johnson of Yates, who converted the arcade into a hotel called the Johnson House.

Only the walls remained of the building at 345 Main St. after a fire in 1923. The walls survived because Medina sandstone doesn’t burn.

In April 1872, the hotel was bought by a real estate man from Jefferson, Ohio, named Henry S. Bancroft, who remodeled the hotel, adding the 60-foot tower and a fourth floor. While the addition of a gas-illuminated clock in the tower was spectacular, its financial success was another story. Ownership changed several times before Albert H. White purchased it in 1886, renaming it White’s Hotel.

White owned the landmark for 25 years, but soon leased it to others. In 1914, a local brewer from Orient Street, George F. Stein, bought the hotel, naming it Steinhof. The Salvation Army acquired the property in 1917 to use as a residence for the homeless and destitute.

According to Ed Grinnell’s Medina – Here’s to Our Heritage, the building burned again on Jan 4, 1923, leaving it almost in total ruin. “Forty-eight years after the tower was built, Medina’s most visible and best-known landmark was no more,” Grinnell wrote.

Enter M. Cady Lacy and Charles Haak in 1925, who bought the ruins, reduced the walls to two stories, added a section to the canal side for their machine shop and started selling auto parts.

According to Grinnell, “If longevity means anything, this building which saw so many heartbreaking failures, was now a success.”

As automobiles became more popular, the auto parts business took over, Lacy said.

“In 1941, we leased the machine shop to Phinney Tool & Die, who moved to West Center Street after World War II when they needed more room,” he said.

Haak died in 1947, ending the partnership with his grandfather, and the business was incorporated as Medina Parts Co., Inc. Craig’s dad John joined the business after the war, retiring in 1980.

Craig had started working there in 1962, while still in high school.

“All I ever did every holiday and vacation was hang out here,” he said. “I never considered it a job. My son Nicholas joined the business in 2010, taking over until we closed in May 2022, when NAPA bought him out.”

The parts counter of Medina Parts and Machine Shop is shown in this 1910 photo provided by Craig Lacy, grandson of one of the company’s founders.

In spite of its use throughout the decades, 345 Main St. has become famous for an interesting incident, believed to have occurred in the mid 1870s.

Grover Cleveland, who would become mayor of Buffalo, New York state governor and the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, had a ward named Frances Folsom, who lived with her mother at her aunt’s home at 300 North Main St.

While visiting the Folsoms one day, Cleveland borrowed a horse and buggy from a friend, Don Bent, in Medina. As he rode down Main Street, Medina police officer Henrie Fuller recognized the horse and carriage, but not the driver and assumed they were stolen. He took Cleveland into custody, and it is speculated he would have been taken to the jail in Lacy’s building, where he was detained until it was proven he was not a thief.

The jail, which was Medina’s first lockup, was used until 1908, when the village built City Hall. It is believed to be the oldest existing jail in Orleans County.

Hughes said she and Martin will do everything possible to keep the Lacy legend alive and incorporate the building’s history into any future plans.

Farmers’ Market will need new home during winter months

Photo courtesy of Chris Busch: Gail Miller, manager of the Canal Village Farmers’ Market, talks with vendors in January 2024 inside the former NAPA Auto Parts building. The vendor in front is from Human Farms and Greenhouse in Appleton.

With the sale and new uses planned for the former Medina Parts/NAPA building at 345 Main St., the Canal Village Farmers’ Market will have to make other plans for the winter months. The market has been using the front part of the former store free of charge for the past three winters.

“We’ve been incredibly fortunate these past few winters to be able to relocate the Canal Village Farmers’ Market indoors at 345 Main St.,” said Chris Busch, president of Orleans Renaissance Group, which sponsors the market.  “The market wouldn’t exist without the generous support in so many ways of people throughout the community. We are very grateful to Craig Lacy for his kind generosity in allowing the market to use his building. It’s been a true lifesaver and has allowed us to operate a great winter market.”

Busch said the new building owner, Samantha Rae Hughes, “has also been tremendously kind to us.” ORG is very excited for the future at 345 Main St.

“As for what the market will do for winter 2025 – that is to be determined,” Busch said. “Our new facility at 127 West Center St. planned from the NY Forward Grant award will not likely be completed by then. Hopefully, an opportunity of some sort will present itself. We’ll have to wait and see. That said lots of cool things will be happening with the market in the next year or two.”